$690M SET ASIDE FOR HIGHWAY, TRANSIT FIXES

If you commute on San Diego County’s freeways, chances are you’ll pass by one of the state’s 23 highway and transit construction projects taking place this year.

Laurie Berman, San Diego region director for the California Department of Transportation, on Thursday outlined the $690 million worth of projects that are under way or about to start up. She spoke during the agency’s annual Transportation Update event.

Berman said Caltrans is committed to improving the region’s most congested corridors, but not only by adding more freeway lanes.

“Most freeway projects today are more than widening the roadway. Many projects include transit opportunities such as bus rapid-transit stations and improvements such as express lanes for carpools and vanpools,” Berman said from Caltrans’ Old Town headquarters.

For instance, crews this week started construction on the I-805 express lanes from state Route 52 to Mira Mesa Boulevard, an $86 million project set to finish in 2015. Those lanes will be open to carpools, buses and fee-paying solo drivers.

By this summer, the agency expects to open a carpool lane on I-805 from Carroll Canyon Road to the I-5 merge.

Also this year, Caltrans will break ground on the $76.5 million state Route 11 project, which will add ramps to and from Route 905 and local streets in San Ysidro, Berman said. The project, set to finish in 2015, is a precursor for connecting a future toll road to a “desperately needed” new Otay Mesa Port of Entry, she added.

In North County along Interstate 15, three transit stations — in Escondido, Rancho Bernardo and Sabre Springs — will see upgrades to prepare for an expanded rapid bus system on the corridor, according to Caltrans.